iPhone factory strike disputed by firm

CHINA

Updated 11:09 pm, Saturday, October 6, 2012

Tension last month at another Chinese factory that makes iPhones led to a brawl that overturned a car.

Tension last month at another Chinese factory that makes iPhones led to a brawl that overturned a car.

Photo: Associated Press

iPhone factory strike disputed by firm

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Beijing --

Foxconn Technology Group denied Saturday that production was affected at a Chinese factory that makes Apple's iPhones, although both state media and an overseas labor watch group said some workers halted production lines Friday, apparently over higher quality-control standards.

New York-based China Labor Watch reported that 3,000 to 4,000 workers at the Foxconn plant in central China's Zhengzhou city went on strike Friday over increased quality-control demands and having to work during an extended national holiday.

The official Xinhua News Agency, quoting a spokesman for the management committee of the Xinzheng Comprehensive Bonded Area where the plant is located, said some production lines were halted Friday when workers persuaded quality inspectors to skip work to show their dissatisfaction over higher quality standards.

In a statement Saturday, the Taiwan-based electronic manufacturer Foxconn said production at the Zhengzhou plant continued without interruption. It denied any strike or work stoppage.

Xinhua said some workers were unhappy when Apple strengthened quality inspections of the iPhone 5 following consumer complaints regarding aesthetic flaws in the phone.

China Labor Watch said several iPhone 5 production lines at the factory were paralyzed after the workers found the new quality-control demands difficult to meet and went on strike. The group said the workers also were angry about being forced to work through China's National Day Golden Week holiday, which ends Sunday.

Foxconn said its employees in China who worked during the holiday did so voluntarily and were being paid three times their normal pay, in accordance with Chinese labor law.